The brush fire in southeast Polk County is now 85 percent contained, according to the Florida Forest Service.

Spokesman Todd Chlanda said the fire had consumed about 5,500 acres.

A dozen homes were destroyed and countless privately owned campsites were burned.

No one was been injured by the fire, but several pets and wild animals have been lost.

Firefighters were focusing their efforts Sunday south of County Road 630, north of the bombing range and also north of Highway 60, according to Chlanda.

He said the River Ranch Hunt Club was allowing its members to return and check out their campsites.

Landowner Alan Akouka, whose property is adjacent to the River Ranch Hunt Club, was also checking out his organic crops. He believes he lost 95 acres of land to the fire. On his land, Akouka harvested around 50 different edible plants including blackberries, wild guavas, and honey.

Akouka was on the property when the brush fire ripped through the area Wednesday.

“It was probably the most unique, terrifying unusual, cataclysmic thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Akouka explained. “This dry grass around here, when it lift up you could actually see the fire itself and hitting the grass and exploding like some kind of a bomb.”

Akouka believes his torched land is now going to cause him to lose around a quarter of a million dollars.

“We got to see if it comes back or not. But as far as this year, we probably lost a quarter of a million dollars in produce, and honey opportunities and saw palmettos and blackberries, blueberries, beauty berries,” said Akouka.

“I don’t even like to talk about it to tell you the truth. Every time I do I get mad. It’s just life. Life has its ups and its down. You got to take them and make the best of them."

Despite the loss, Akouka said he’s grateful no one in his family was injured, and the fire didn’t touch his equipment or his homes.

The Florida Forest Service plans to be remain in Polk County for several more days—until the Frostproof fire is 100 percent contained. Investigators are still looking into what sparked the flames.